No Money – Just Think

The most common complaint I hear today is “Dan, I’d do something on my own but I don’t have any money” Fortunately, many of the best ideas do not require buildings, leases, employees, or inventory. And many can be started with very little, if any, capital.

Here are some recent hits:

A hunter got an option on 400 isolated acres, then sold 40 hunting licenses for $5000 each. He then completed the purchase free and clear and pocketed approximately $50,000.

An artifacts dealer arranged an exhibit for some rare Dead Sea Scroll pieces. He had 30,000 people come through a minimally promoted showing in a small town. Now he is opening in a major city, anticipating 50,000 viewers at $19 each. You do the math.

A computer guy discovered the internal battery on his Apple computer needed to be replaced – at about $125. He researched and found a small tool at Sears for $3.00 and the batteries in bulk for $2.00 each. With these and a one-page explanation he created a repair kit for this common problem. In a sixty day period he sold 700 kits at $24.95.

An artist received a comment that her paintings were so peaceful. This comment triggered a thought that people going to dentist’s offices needed a peaceful surrounding. She has been immensely successful by going to dentist’s conventions – likely the only artist there – and selling her paintings to dentists.

A high school student went to garage sales with his mother to buy Disney items. He then placed them on eBay, netting approximately $3000 monthly in anticipation of beginning college. Kinda beats the $8/hr job at McDonalds.

Another client wanted to be in the antique business but had no money. He leased a warehouse, dividing it into 72 spaces for an antique mall. In a 60-day period he rented 70 spaces, collecting first and last month’s rent. With this $7000 he completed the lease, did some minimal renovations, and opened for business. His rent is $1500 and he is collecting $3500. In addition, he has two spaces for his own merchandise and receives a 10% commission on everyone’s sales.

One of our 48 Days coaches wanted to write a book.* He got eleven other coaches to submit a chapter. Then he had them pay $3500 each to get 500 copies for themselves (a 50% discount off retail). He printed the books showing himself as the lead author – put a clean $30,000 in his pocket and continues to have the contributing authors purchase books from him.

*If you want to know more about how to turn your writing into income join us for the next Write to the Bank event here at the Sanctuary.

I’m completing my list of 48 ideas you can start with less than $2500 – and make $30-40,000 part time. Just finishing up with pictures and links. If you want to be featured send me your success story to askdan@48Days.com.

6 Responses to “No Money – Just Think”

These posts are on one hand very encouraging and yet very discouraging when I realize I can’t do likewise with ZERO cash. The repair kit is the only one which seemed feasible but I’ve never faced the problem described so I wouldn’t have found a way to fix it.

And a lot of great ideas result from situations (e.g. travel, product use) people without money are unlikely to experience in the first place.

Since the average reader has a considerably more money than I – and therefore is in a much better position to seek and find solutions to consumer problems – these posts are a Really Good Thing and I am just a crank.

If you have zero cash (and are otherwise struggling to pay the light bill), than you need a job, not a business. I don’t say that condescendingly, I say that from experience. You can’t start a business from a position of weakness/desperation. When you are driven by desperation, you make bad decisions and end up wasting time, money, and energy. Get out of debt. Build an emergency reserve. Then when you recognize business opportunities, you will find you can try things and experiment without the pressure of I-have-to-make-money-NOW.

One business/work I’ve done while my husband is going back to school is house cleaning. I printed up some flyers, took them around my neighborhood, and cleaned a lady’s house for $20/hour a couple of hours a month. It wasn’t a lot, but it was something, and it worked with our schedules.

Beware going into business as a quick money fix. It never works. Good luck.

Very inspiring…and thank you for that. I love real estate and I have heard many people say do not go into it without any cash reserve or you will lose the shirt off your back. I am fearful of ‘no money down’ real estate. Nevertheless, I can certainly find other ways to build that cash reserve before getting involved in real estate.

Its like you read my mind! You seem to know a lot about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you could do with some pics to drive the message home a little bit, but other than that, this is magnificent blog. An excellent read….